Haptics is a tactile and force feedback technology that takes advantage of a user's sense of touch by applying haptic feedback effects (i.e., “haptic effects”), such as forces, vibrations, and motions, to the user. Devices, such as mobile devices, touchscreen devices, and personal computers, can be configured to generate haptic effects. In general, calls to embedded hardware capable of generating haptic effects (such as actuators) can be programmed within an operating system (“OS”) of the device. These calls specify which haptic effect to play. For example, when a user interacts with the device using, for example, a button, touchscreen, lever, joystick, wheel, or some other control, the OS of the device can send a play command through control circuitry to the embedded hardware. The embedded hardware then produces the appropriate haptic effect that is perceived by the user.
Typically, haptic effects rely on vibrations to improve the experience of audio-visual media. For example, in a gaming context, when a game includes action such as machine gun fire, explosions or car crashes, the haptic effects include vibrations of varying intensity and duration associated with each event. These vibrations, and other effects, are generated in many devices through the use of some type of actuator or haptic output device. Known actuators used for this purpose include an electromagnetic actuator such as a solenoid actuator, an Eccentric Rotating Mass (“ERM”) actuator in which an eccentric mass is moved by a motor, a Linear Resonant Actuator vibration motor (“LRA”), an electro-active polymer actuator, or a piezoelectric actuator. Further, kinesthetic actuators may be used to provide haptic feedback through mechanical movement of a device.